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Raiders announce Las Vegas will host Super Bowl in 2024

Jannelle Calderon
Jannelle Calderon
Economy
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The nearly $2 billion home of the Las Vegas Raiders will host the 2024 Super Bowl, bringing thousands of people — and their pocketbooks — to Allegiant Stadium in the entertainment capital of the world.

Mark Davis, owner of the Raiders, issued a statement confirming the development after it was approved during an NFL team owners meeting in Dallas on Wednesday and cheered it further during a press conference at Allegiant Stadium.

“We have been awarded the Pro Bowl, the NFL draft and now the biggest prize of all — the Super Bowl,” Davis said, speaking remotely from Dallas. “When you're not winning on the field, it's kind of nice to win off it sometimes, and today is a huge, huge win for all of us.”

Members of the Super Bowl committee gather at Allegiant Stadium announcing that Super Bowl LVIII will be played in Las Vegas during a news conference on Wednesday Dec. 15, 2021. (Jeff Scheid/Nevada Independent)

The game is scheduled for Feb. 11, 2024. Marquees along the Las Vegas Strip, Fremont Street Experience and elsewhere in the area were expected to light up at 5 p.m. Wednesday to tout the development.

In a press release, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill called the announcement a “defining moment in the history of Las Vegas” and promised it would be “the most electrifying sports spectacle ever.”

“We are bringing the greatest championship game in the world to the greatest arena on Earth,” Hill added during the Wednesday press conference. “And it’s going to be spectacular.”

Maurice Gallagher, the CEO of Allegiant Air and chair of Las Vegas’ Super Bowl host committee, projected the game would generate $500 million in overall economic benefits, with $70 million in additional state tax dollars.

The 2020 Super Bowl in Miami had a total economic impact of $571.9 million on the local economy between labor income, value-added gross domestic product and output revenues, according to a report approved by Miami Beach commissioners, though some economists have quibbled with those numbers.

Gov. Steve Sisolak, who as a Clark County Commission chairman was an early backer and proponent of the stadium, predicted the Super Bowl would create thousands of full- and part-time jobs and generate millions of tax dollars “that will be reinvested in supporting our local communities.”

“It's just an absolute dream come true,” he said at the press conference.

Sisolak predicted “creative festivities” as part of an entertainment experience that would last several days leading up to game day. He also said the benefits are more than financial and that the event would provide “worldwide exposure” the city otherwise would not get. 

“You can't buy that kind of publicity,” he said.

Jeremy Aguero, left, Las Vegas Raiders chief operations and analytics officer, Maury Gallagher, left, CEO of Allegiant Air, and Gov. Steve Sisolak, view a tv monitor at Allegiant Stadium announcing Super Bowl LVIII will be played in Las Vegas during a news conference on Wednesday Dec. 15, 2021. (Jeff Scheid/Nevada Independent)

Jeremy Aguero, the Raiders’ chief operations and analytics officer, said he wasn’t aware of how tickets would be priced, and that organizers were looking at other markets for comparison. But he said “I would expect us to meet or beat what has happened at every other Super Bowl when it's held here in Las Vegas.”

As for how the event would create jobs, Aguero said staff will be needed for the planning process, retrofitting the stadium to accommodate the event, as well as to run the Super Bowl itself and the festivities leading up to it.

According to the NFL Network, the 2024 Super Bowl was originally awarded to New Orleans, but the league’s expansion to a 17-game regular season created a conflict with Mardi Gras celebrations. New Orleans instead will host the 2025 Super Bowl.

Gallagher said the two-year timeframe was short relative to the kind of advanced notice other destinations get, but that Las Vegas is well-equipped to tackle the logistical challenges needed to safely pull off large-scale events.

“What's bigger than a Super Bowl?” he said. “This town … is geared for this type of thing. Not to say other towns can't do it, but this is what we do for a living.”

The next Super Bowl is slated for Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., while the following Super Bowl is set to take place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

Sisolak framed the event as the culmination of a vision launched more than six years ago. The Raiders agreed to relocate from Oakland after state lawmakers and former Gov. Brian Sandoval approved a funding package in a 2016 special session that included a pledged $750 million dedicated to stadium construction costs — the largest public subsidy for a sports stadium in American history. Those funds came from an earmarked 0.88 percent hike in the Clark County room tax.

When stadium proponents lobbied state lawmakers for taxpayer money to build the lavish facility, they argued its existence would pay dividends by attracting more visitors who would want to watch their favorite football teams play in the casino-filled city or see a major concert in the venue. The tourists, in turn, would be spending more money throughout the region.

Construction of what is now known as Allegiant Stadium wrapped in July 2020, but the pandemic delayed most members of the public from stepping inside it until this year. The Raiders’ inaugural season in Las Vegas occurred without fans in the stadium. Concerts in early July drew the first big crowds to the stadium before the Raiders’ 2021 preseason began a month later.

Although Allegiant Stadium falls below the required 70,000-seat capacity to host the Super Bowl — it holds 65,000 seats — the stadium has the capability to add seats. By installing removable seats, and expanding suites to allow standing room only spaces, the capacity could reach 71,835. 

Riley Snyder and Michelle Rindels contributed to this report.

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